Florist&#39;s refrigerator



June 11, 1935. 'G. E. FRIEDRICH FLORISTS REFRIGERATOR 2 Shets$heet 1 Filed Dec. 4, 1954 Fig.1. 19

' June 11, 1935. e. E. FRIEDRICH FLORISTS REFRIGERATOR 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec. 4, 1934 GEORGE E. FR/ EDR/OH Patented June 11, 1935 UNITED STATES FLORISTS REFRIGERATOR George E. Friedrich, San Antonio, Tex., assignor to Edward Friedrich, San Antonio, Tex.

Application December 4, 1934, Serial No. 755,953

4 Claims.

My invention relates to the art of refrigeration, and it has for its primary object to adapt the system of refrigeration described in Letters Patent No. 1,893,769, issued January 10, 1933, to florists refrigerators, and to modify and improve the patented construction so as to obtain the greatest efliciency and most uniform temperature possible throughout the interior of the cabinet.

A further object is to provide means to keep the shelf supporting panel of the back wall of the cabinet, on which the flowers are supported, cool on both its front and back sides, thereby tending to provide the coolest area within that por-' tion of the cabinet opposite the doorways and preventing excessive spilling of cold air from the cabinet when the doors are opened for the purpose of putting in or taking out flowers.

Other objects will in part be obvious and in part be pointed out hereinafter.

. To the attainment of the aforesaid objects and ends, the invention still further resides in the novel details of construction, combination and arrangement of parts, all of which will be first fully described in the following detailed description, and then be particularly pointed out in the appended claims, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a vertical section on the line l-l of Figure 2.

Figure 2 is a vertical section on the line 22 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a horizontal section on the line 3-3 of Figure 1.

Figure 4 is a detail sectional perspective view of one of the pm which prevent fouling of the cooling coils.

In the drawings, in which like numerals and letters of reference indicate like parts in all the figures, it will be observed that the bottom of the cabinet is composed of boards I and 2 separated by suitable heat insulation such as cork 3. The parts i, 2 and 3 constitute the base of the cabinet. The front wall of the cabinet is composed of an outer sheathing 4 and an inner sheathing 5, with interposed insulation 6, the front wall having suitable door frames I in which doors 8 having transparencies 9 are mounted in the usual way, there being gaskets l9 provided for effecting an air-tight joint between the doors and the door frames.

The sides of the cabinet are also composed of outer and inner sheathing, l I and I2, between transparencies 9 and I5 being preferably of glass. A removable section or panel [6 may be provided in one of the side walls for access to the motor and blower compartments. hereinafter again referred to.

The top of the cabinet is composed of outer and inner sheathing I! and I8 respectively, with an interposed insulation I9.

Spaced beneath the top wall of the cabinet within the chamber of the same is aperforated ceiling 29 through the openings 2| of which air is adapted to be drawn from the display chamber of the cabinet into an air space or top horizontal duct 59 hereinafter again referred to.

The back of the cabinet is composed of an outer sheathing 22, insulation 23 and a wall 24 of a down-air duct 58 against the inner wall 25 of which the shelf carrying panel 52 is located and forms the back of the display compartment of the cabinet. 26 and 21 designate longitudinal walls on the bottom of the cabinet defining between them a cooling chamber 36, the wall 21 being spaced from the back wall of--the cabinet a distance suflicient to provide an air collecting duct 29 that extends the full width of the cabinet from side to side and communicates through its top 28 with the lower end of the down-air duct 58.

Mounted on suitable cleats 39 and comprising the top wall of an air distributing duct 35 is the perforated wall 3| one endof which communicates with the discharge spout 34 of the blower or turbine housing 33.

32 designates a partition which divides the blower or turbine chamber from the cooling chamber36.

31 designates a series of pans one of which constitutes, a top closure for the blower or turbine chamber, while the others form a cover for the cooling chamber 36. Those pans which cover the cooling chamber .have upstanding walls 38 and 40 perforated as at 45 for air passage, the walls 38 and 40 having horizontal flanges 39 and 4| respectively. The flange 4| is longer than the flange 39 and is turned down as at 42 to hook over the flange 39 of an adjacent pan, the.walls 38-40 ofadjacent pans being spaced apart to permit air passage as indicated by the arrows in Figure 1. The pans may also have front and back walls 43, with'flanges 44 if de-- in Figures 1, 2 and 3. By using a slatted or foraminous floor 'the cold air is passed upwardly into the display compartment of the cabinet at many points over the entire floor area, thus tending to equalize the air flow.

48 designates the lower shelf which is supported from the panel 52 on suitable brackets 49, while 50 indicates the upper shelf also supported from the panel 52 by suitable brackets 5|. The shelf 48 does not extend the full depth of the cabinet but terminates some distance back of the front of the same, while the shelf 50 projects still less toward the front of the cabinet, thereby forming supports for the flowers of gradually decreasing areas from the slatted bottom to the top shelf.

53 designates the blower or turbine which is located in the housing 33, the inlet of the housing communicating with an end of the air collecting duct 29, while the outlet of the housing communicates with the discharge spout or nozzle 34. A suitable motor 54 is provided for driving the blower or turbine and it may be controlled by a switch 55 operated from the outside of the cabinet, a second switch 51 being provided to control the lights 56 which are located within the cabinet adjacent the front wall and the perforated ceiling. Central partition cleats 60 and 6| may be provided for strengthening purposes and also to di- 'vide the down-air duct into a plurality of secl'lS.

Mounted within the cooling chamber 36 is the cooling means which preferably comprises one or more coil units 62 of any well known construc- A suitable drain 63 is also provided and between the several transparencies 3 and I5 are placed suitable dehydrating tubes 54 to prevent fogging of the glass.

So far as described it will be seen that there is a complete air circulation over the entire width of the cabinet across the top from front to back and down the back wall to the collection duct 29 and through that duct to the blower housing 33, from whence it is driven through duct 35 into the cooling chamber 36 to pass upwardly through the pan openings 40 and slatted bottom into the display compartment 'of the cabinet, the air being collected at the top of that compartment and drawn into the space 59 above the perforated ceiling 20, thus completing the circuit. While the air passing down the back duct 58 will not be the coolest air, it is still cool enough to assist in cooling the panel 52 and sheathing 25 to tend to keep the coolest air away from the front doors 9 so that the cool air will be located where the display is located and at the same time there will be less chance of the coolest air spilling out when the doors 8 are opened than would be the case were the coolest area adjacent the doors.

From the foregoing description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, it is thought that the complete construction, operation and advantages vof the invention will be clear to those skilled in the art.

What I claim is:

1. In refrigerators, a cabinet having a bottom, a top, aback wall, side walls and a front wall, doors in. the front wall, said cabinet enclosing a display chamber, a perforated ceiling spaced from the top of the cabinet within said display chamber and providing a top air space, a downair duct located across the back of the cabinet within the display chamber, said down-air duct communicating along its top with the space above the ceiling, a horizontal air collecting duct located within the cabinet at the juncture of the bottom and the back wall and communicating along its length with the bottom of said down-air duct to receive the air therefrom,a. blower duct within the cabinet at the juncture of the bottom and one end wall, one side of said blower duct communicating with said air-collecting duct, a blower in said blower duct, said cabinet having a cooling compartment at the bottom extending from said blower duct to the opposite side of the cabinet and located between the front wall of the cabinet and said air collecting duct, pans constituting a cover for said cooling compartment and having air passages, a duct extending along the bottom of the cabinet from said blower duct to the opposite side of the cabinet and being in communication with said blower duct and having its top wall perforated, cooling means mounted in said cooling compartment above said perforated duct, a foraminous floor laid over said pans, and flower supporting shelves located adjacent the down-air duct.

2. In refrigerators, a cabinet having a bottom, a top, a back wall, side walls and a front wall, doors in the front wall, said cabinet enclosing a display chamber, a perforated ceiling spaced from the top of the cabinet within said display chamber and providing a top air space, a down-air duct located across the back of the cabinet within the display chamber, said down-air duct communicating along its top with the space above the ceiling, a horizontal air collecting duct lo-' cated within the cabinet at the juncture of the bottom and the back wall and communicating along its length with the bottom of said downair duct to receive the air therefrom, a blower duct within the cabinet at the juncture of the bottom and one end wall, one side of said blower duct communicating with said air collecting duct, a blower in said blower duct, said cabinet having a cooling compartment at the bottom extending from said blower duct to the opposite side of the cabinet and located between the front wall of the cabinet and said air collecting duct, pans constituting a cover for said cooling compartment and having air passages, a duct extending along the bottom of the cabinet from said blower duct to the opposite side of the cabinet and being in communication with said blower duct and having its top wall perforated, cooling means mounted in said cooling compartment above said perforated duct, a foraminous floor laid over said pans, a. shelf supporting panel located within the chamber of the cabinet against the down-air duct, and flower supporting shelves carried thereby.

3. In a florists refrigerator, a cabinet having heat insulated walls and comprising a. laterally elongated structure enclosing a flower receiving compartment, a perforated ceiling for said compartment spaced from the top of the cabinet to leave an upper air space, a down-air duct extending from one side wall of the cabinet to the other along the back thereof and communicating at its top with said top air space, an air collecting duct extending from one side wall to the other at the bottom of the cabinet along the back thereof and communicating along its length with the lower end of said down-air duct, a shelf supporting panel in said cabinet extending across the back thereof adjacent said down-air duct, a slatted floor within said cabinet, said cabinet having a chamber beneath said slatted floor between said air collecting duct and the front wall of the cabinet and extending from one side wall to adjacent the other side wall but spaced from said other side wall to provide a blower chamber, said blower chamber having its intake communicating with said air collecting duct and having its outlet directed to discharge toward said first mentioned chamber beneath the slatted floor, a blower operating in said blower chamber, a duct along the bottom of said first mentioned chamber beneath the slatted floor, one end of said last named duct communicating with the outlet of said blower chamber, said last named duct having its upper wall perforated, and cooling means located between said perforated upper wall and said slatted floor.

4. In a florists refrigerator, a cabinet having heat insulated walls and comprising a laterally elongated structure enclosing a flower receiving compartment, a perforated ceiling for said compartment spaced from the top of the cabinet to leave an upper air space, a down-air duct extending from one side wall of the cabinet to the other along the back thereof and communicating at its top with said top air space, an air collecting duct extending from one side wall to the otherat the bottom of the cabinet along the back thereof and communicating along its length with the lower end of said down-air duct, a shelf supporting panel in said cabinet extending across the back thereof adjacent said down-air duct, a slatted floor within said cabinet, said cabinet having a chamber beneath said slatted floor between said air collecting duct and the front wall of the cabinet and extending from oneside wall to adjacent the other side wall but spaced from said other side wall to provide a blower chamber, said blower chamber having its intake communicating with said air collecting duct and having its outlet directed to discharge toward said first mentioned chamber beneath the slatted floor, a blower operating in said blower chamber, a duct along the bottom of said first mentioned chamber beneath the slatted fl or, one end of said last named duct communicating with the outlet of said blower chamber, said last named duct having its upper wall perforated, cooling means located between said perforated upper wall and said slatted floor, and a series of pans beneath the slatted floor constituting a top closure for said blower chamber and constituting a cover for the chamber which contains the cooling means, those pans which constitute said cover having upstanding perforated walls for passing cold air from the cooling means upwardly through said perforations to said slatted floor.

GEORGE E. FRIEDRICH 

